Neuroimaging and Reading Comprehension

In this paper, we first introduce functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), followed by a review of three themes of neuroimaging research on the neural correlates of reading-related skills: (1) typical and struggling readers, including developmental dyslexics, (2) an inverted U-shaped function in second language reading that portrays an increased activation in the reading network during learning phases and a decrease in activation as participants were more familiar with the exercise, and (3) cognitive capacity and syntactic complexity. Our intent is to show that interdisciplinary work involving how language operates in the brain, including the neural basis of reading comprehension, can provide a deeper understanding of some of the mechanics, processes, and behavioral data associated with reading comprehension.